Dearest Dema,
We are going to see you tomorrow! YEAH!!!! We are so excited. Everyone has recommended that we do not act as if we know you when we first see you as Ukraine does not allow pre-selected adoptions to take place, so we are going to just have to stifle our excitement. But don’t think that it is for a lack of love - if it was up to us we would rush across the room and squeeze you until you couldn’t breathe!
Today has been another great day. We had a quiet morning doing school work with Amanda and G3 getting some work done. Poor Amanda slept in late because her online physics class was at 3:15 in the morning. I had to get her up and stay up with her for a while to make sure she wouldn’t fall back asleep. But she got through class ok and was able to go back to sleep.
We were picked up around 3:30pm and were taken back to the SDA for our letter of referral. There were several other families there unlike the day before when we had our appointment. Quite an international assortment, one family from Spain, one from Italy, and two from America. The process went quite quickly, we just had to sign our names and then we got the letter. It was here we really realized how good our facilitator was - he was the only one greeted by name and was obviously respected by the SDA staff.
After getting the referral letter, we then went to a cellular store to get a wifi card. We really need internet access for both my and G3’s work and Amanda’s school work. It was a lengthy process and quite expensive. We had to spend $150 for the wifi card, but it only cost about $1 per day to use for unlimited data. We didn’t have time to set up the card or worry about installing drivers, so let’s cross our fingers that it works.
We have skyped G4 at home several times and he seems to be doing well. He says he misses us but I think that is only lip service! He is managing so well - I am really proud of him for being on his own. We got the cellular phone unlocked for international calls so G3 and I were able to call home and talk to our moms. It was nice to hear their voices - my mom is flying in to help G4 out next week.
Anyway, we then went to the train station to Donetsk. We wanted to take the train directly to Mariupol, but it left earlier in the day and therefore had to take the train to Donetsk and then get a driver to Mariupol. It was 5:00pm so we went to a nearby restaurant to get dinner. Our facilitator tried to take us to McDonalds - yuck! I told him they need to ban them from Ukraine (and the rest of the world for that matter). The food here is so good - there is no need to resort to pink slime filled processed burgers! But there is nothing there we can eat anyway. So we talked him into going to another restaurant and had wonderful vireniky filled with potatoes and cheese. Even he had to admit that it was better than McDonalds. (In our mind, eating at a McDonalds is kind of like shopping at WalMart - something you just feel yucky doing!)
I do feel bad about G4 though! We are living a scene out of a dream for him on this train! The train has been a great experience. It is something right out of an Agatha Christie book - I feel like any moment there will be a bell announcing dinner in the dining compartment. I feel this urge to dress up and go the lounge. Of course there is no such thing - but we have two first class compartments right next to each other - one for Amanda and myself and one for the facilitator and G3. There is a cute little table and two bunks. The restroom is at the end of the hall. The biggest problem I have encountered so far has been that it is very stuffy in the compartment and very hot. There does not seem to be any mechanism for air flow or a/c if it were hot. I feel sorry for families that travel this way in the summertime. Maybe there is air and it was turned off because it is still cold out. But anyway, it is worth looking at flying back and forth. I know G3 stated emphatically that we would be flying exclusively back and forth from now on!
So, we are going to go to bed now - don’t know how good we will sleep with the train moving back and forth. But we will try because we want to be well rested to see you tomorrow!
Counting the hours,
Bethany, G3, G4,& Amanda
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